Why Walter Sculpts Women

Walter Mariga is a master stone sculpture from Zimbabwe. In this one minute video, Walter explains why all of his sculptures are of women and you see a few of his more recent works. A transcript of the video follows.

Karen:
Walter, many artists—and I think you’re no exception in this—will sculpt the same kind of theme many times over. You seem to be attracted to sculpting women. What’s that about?

Walter:
In my sculpture, it’s all about women. For me to be a great artist, it was a woman who took a lot of care of me. I’m not saying fathers are not there, were not there for me. They were there for me. But remember, I stayed in my mother’s womb for nine months and the first time I was out in this world, she was the one who took a lot of care. My father was there, but everything I needed was coming from my mother.

So I tend to have respect about the women. So the whole idea of my sculptures, I just sort of try to portray the beautiful, the care that women are to the nation.

Karen:
That’s beautiful. Just beautiful.

More information about Walter and his work is available from the ZimArt gallery.